Feb 7, 2021 - Shishu Vihar (Sunday AM)

Hari Om Parents,

Below is a recap of what we did during Sunday's class.

 

We began another delightful Sunday morning of Shishu Vihar, with our cute kids' faces popping up on our screens. Once we had most of our friends join our session, we began our class with 3 OMs.

Shlokas:

     1. "Om Saha Navavatu" (page 8 in My Prayers book)

     2. "Vakrathunda Mahakaya" (page 27 in My Prayers book)

  3. "Saraswathi Namasthubhyam" (page 12 in My Prayers book)

  4. "Karagre Vasate" (page 11 in My Prayers book)

5. "Samudhra Vasane" (page 11 in My Prayers book)

6. "Shubam Karoti" (page 12 in My Prayers book)

7. "Krishnayan Vasudevaya" (page 105 in My Prayers book) - new

     

Activities:

1. Please have the kids make it a habit to chant the above shlokas every morning, after their bath/shower. This will help them learn, memorize as well as develop a lifelong habit of morning prayer and daily prayer.

2. We rolled right in to some Yoga stretches. We began with the Tree pose with some swaying, then went into a Tiger pose and had everyone roar like a Tiger or a Lion (we had to prompt them to be louder!). Then we sat on the floor and turned into little butterflies, fluttering in the breeze. We then went into the Flower Pose, the kids are slowly getting a hang of this relatively new pose.

3. Bhajan time - we introduced the class to a new Lord Krishna bhajan

   He Murali Sridhara, Radhe Krishna Radhe Shyam

   Keshava Madhava Yadava Nandana, Radhe Krishna Radhe Shyam

   Nanda Nandana Radheshayam, Navaneeta Chora Radheshyam

   Keshava Madhava Yadava Nandana, Radhe Krishna Radhe Shyam

   Bhakta Vatsala Radheshyam, Bhagavatapriya Radhheshyam

   Keshava Madhava Yadava Nandana, Radhe Krishna Radhe Shyam

   
   

4. We played the Concentration Game. After the chanting of 3 Om's kids tried to keep their eyes closed. They counted the number of stones being dropped into a box during the quiet time. Later they give the count of the stones dropped. The game quiets the mind and improves concentration. We muted everyone so that the kids wouldn't have any potential distractions from each other. Several students got the count correct! Impressive how most of the kids are able to keep their eyes closed and concentrate.

5. After some meditation and calming down, we repeated numbers 1-10 in Sanskrit. We showed images of the numbers in Sanskrit and in English on the screen as well as a a visual of circles with the corresponding number. We had the kids put up their fingers as we counted together.
   

6. Geetha Chanting, we practiced shlokas 1, 2 and 3 from chapter 2 of the Geetha. We repeated them once. We introduced the class to shloka 4. We repeated the 4th shloka twice. It was such a wonderful feeling to see and hear several kids chanting shlokas 1, 2 and 3:)yay!!

7. Story Time.

8. Craft Time, we made our own baskets out of paper plates and ribbons. We had the kids make a circle in the center of the plate. Then cut the plate into eight parts all the way to the edge of the circle. Then using a hole punch or a pencil or a skewer, the parents helped the kids make two holes per strip. Then using the ribbon, they weaved their baskets together. The kids then colored/decorated their baskets. A coloring sheet of baby Krishna on a leaf was sent out as an optional/additional part of our project. A few of our kids colored, cut out and placed baby Krishna in their baskets. Dayan brought a small Krishna idol and placed Krishna in his basket:) Other kids had their own special deliveries that they pretended to carry across the Yamuna river. Thank you parents and grandparents for enthusiastically helping our Shishu kids participate in our weekly craft projects. Below are few of our class baskets.
   
   
   
   

Story of Krishna's Birth 

Before we got into our story, we decided to sing a short song with actions to help with a few different parts of our story: 

Open shut them, open shut them.
Give a little clap, clap, clap.
Open shut them, open shut them.
Put them in your lap, lap, lap.
Creep them, crawl them
Creep them, crawl them
Right up to your chin, chin, chin
Open wide your little mouth. . . Ahhhhhhh!
But do not let them in.

We began the story by discussing that Mother Earth (Bhumadevi) was getting very upset and concerned that Her Earth was unable to bear the cruelty being committed by evil kings and rulers. We all chanted Om Namo Narayana together 3 times to bring this issue to Lord Vishnu's attention. Lord Vishnu accepted the request and assured to defeat tyrannical forces on Earth. 

A long time ago in ancient India, there lived King Ugrasena in the city of Mathura. He had two children, prince Kansa and princess Devaki. King Ugrasena was a good king. Unfortunately, Prince Kansa was evil by nature. When Kansa grew up, he imprisoned his own father Ugrasena and made himself king!

Soon, Kansa's sister Devaki was married to King Vasudev. He loved his sister so much, so he decided to become charioteer for a day. A puppet of Kansa, Devaki and Vasudev on a chariot was shown on the screen. When he drove the chariot, Kansa heard a divine warning from the sky, "O King! Your sister's eighth son will grow up to defeat you." After Kansa heard this, he was afraid. Immediately he imprisoned his own sister Devaki and her husband king Vasudev, and kept them guarded and watched 24/7.

Each time Devaki gave birth to a child in the prison, Kansa arrived personally and took the child away. The seventh time Devaki was pregnant, that child was secretly taken away and handed over to Rohini and was named Balrama. When Devaki became pregnant for the eighth time, King Vasudev's friend's (King Nanda's) wife Yashoda was also pregnant. Lord Vishnu appeared in Devaki and Vasudev's dream and He told them that He will be born as Krishna and He gave Vasudev instructions of what to do. A puppet of this scene was shown on the screen.

The eighth child, Lord Krishna, was born to queen Devaki at midnight in the prison. As soon as the child was born. Lord Vishnu appeared in divine form and the prison was filled with a dazzling light. Both Devaki and Vasudev prayed to Lord Vishnu. At the same time as Lord Krishna was born in the prison, the divine energy of Lord Vishnu was born in Gokul, as a baby girl to queen Yashoda.

A divine message came to Vasudev soon after the birth of Lord Krishna, "Take this child across the Yamuna River to Gokul and exchange Him with Yashoda's daughter. You will return to the prison before anyone comes to know about the birth of this child."

Vasudev immediately followed the advice. As he carried the child in his arms, he found that the prison doors opened automatically and the guards were put to sleep by God. Puppets of prison doors open was shown on the screen. The kids were asked to show with their hands how the doors magically opened (like our initial song). The puppets of sleeping guards was shown on the screen. Vasudev approached the Yamuna River, which was very turbulent due to fierce winds and rain. Shesh naag arrived to protect Baby Krishna by giving shed as an umbrella from the rain. A puppet of Shesh naag protecting Vasudev holding baby Krishna in a basket over his head was shown on the screen. However, as soon as Krishna's toe touched the river Yamuna, the river parted and made way for Vasudev carrying the divine child. Vasudev reached the opposite bank of the river safely and found all the people of Gokul fast asleep. He entered the home of Nanda and Yashoda, and put baby Krishna in the place of Yashoda's baby girl. A puppet of Vasudev switching the babies was shown on the screen. Then Vasudev returned to the prison with the baby girl.

As soon as Vasudev laid the baby girl by Devaki's side, the prison doors shut automatically. A puppet of the shut prison doors was shown on the screen. The kids were asked to show the action of shut doors with their hands (like our initial song). The guards were now awake and were startled by the cries of the baby girl. The guards ran to Kansa and announced the birth of the eighth child. Kansa came and immediately took the baby girl away.

Meanwhile, there was great rejoicing in Gokul, hailing the birth of a son in the household of Nanda. The new born was named Krishna. Everyone dressed up in celebration and decorated the streets and houses for the festivities. The cows were decorated with with turmeric, peacock feathers and garlands. All of Gokul danced with joy. A puppet of the celebration was shown on the screen.

We then spent some time briefly sharing a few Krishna Leelas. A puppet of baby Krishna and his friends stealing butter was shown on the screen. We discussed how Krishna loved everything 'MILK". He was a very sweet and mischievous child. Most of the time, mom Yashodha and Gopis loved watching the cute Krishna steal butter. But this particular day, mommy Yashodha wasn't too happy and wanted to teach baby Krishna a lesson. She decided to tie him up to a heavy stone mortar. A puppet of this scene was shown on the screen. Every time she tried to Him up, the rope was 2 inches too short. She would go and find longer ropes but was still too short. Finally Krishna decided to give in as He had a job to do. The kids were asked who baby Krishna really was...they all said, "Lord Vishnu"! A little while after baby Krishna was tied up, a loud bang was heard in their front yard! Baby Krishna crawled outside and rolled the two ton mortar into two trees in their front yard. The trees turned into Lord Kubera's sons who had been cursed to be trees in Gokul by Narada muni as they were disrespectful to him. A puppet of that scene was shown on the screen.

One day baby Krishna came home after playing with His cowherd friends all covered in mud. Mommy Yashodha was shocked and mad. She went on to question baby Krishna and saw that there was mud all over His face and inside His mouth as well!. She then asked baby Krishna to open His mouth. The kids were asked to open up their mouths like baby Krishna (like our initial song). When baby Krishna did so, the whole world and creation was revealed. A puppet of this scene was shown on the screen. 

We concluded class with Om Purnamadha (page 15 in My Prayers book)

Pranaam,

Keerthi and Pramila